


I Don't Want to Keep Secrets (Just to Keep You)

by annathaema (moony)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Rey (Star Wars), Attempt at Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Competent Finn (Star Wars), Developing Relationship, Feral Desert Orphan Rey, Finn is Not a Virgin (Star Wars), Finn/Slip Mentioned, First Kiss, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Introspection, M/M, Mutual Pining, Original Character(s), POV Finn (Star Wars), Past Relationship(s), Pining, Poe Dameron Is A Mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moony/pseuds/annathaema
Summary: In which Finn saves a life, uses the Force, and admires Poe's collarbones a little too much.Also: a Stormtrooper gets shot in the dick.—Kalonia nodded. “Go get some rest,” she said. “The med-droids and I will keep watch.”“Thanks, Major.” Finn walked out of medbay—right into Rey. “Hey!”Saying nothing, Rey looked him over and quickly patted down his arms, his chest. She grabbed his face and tilted his head in different directions, stepping back once she looked satisfied. “Okay, good.”“Good?”“I ran into Poe a few minutes ago, and he said you’d gone to medbay,” she said. “He didn’t say why, so I assumed the worst.” She scowled. “Ass didn’t even bother to mention that you were perfectly fine.”“That ass got my ass back here,” he said with a smile. “So show some respect.”“Yes, well.” Rey twinkled at him. “We all know what you think of that ass.”“Okay, listen up—"“Can I at least threaten him?”“No.”“Please?” Rey pitched her voice a little whiny. She fondled the hilt of the lightsaber at her hip. “I’ll just singe his hair a little.”“Don’t you touch that hair,” said Finn urgently.
Relationships: Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Finn
Comments: 64
Kudos: 292





	I Don't Want to Keep Secrets (Just to Keep You)

**Author's Note:**

> I guess quarantine was what it took to get me to finally write some FinnPoe (Stormpilot?). Not beta-read because I can never find a beta when I need one. :( Your patience is appreciated.
> 
> I know the Star Wars universe has its own curse words, but to be honest I hate them. There's swears in here, kids!
> 
> Takes place in a nebulous period between TLJ and TRoS and kind of handwaves a lot of canon. I liked TRoS for the most part, but for my purposes I'm ignoring it. :D
> 
> Title from TSwizzle. See if you can find her cameo!

_I love you—ain't that the worst thing you've ever heard?_

—

Finn ducked behind a tree and was immediately showered in sparks from the blaster fire hitting the trunk just above his head. He hit the ground on his belly and scuttled like a sideswiper bug into the thick bushes. He rolled until he hit something solid—a rock, which led to more rocks, which meant cover. He slipped into a crevice, raised his blaster, and waited.

“Over here!” One of the three Stormtroopers that had run him into the forest beckoned to the other two. One appeared. “He was just here, there’s tracks.”

Finn watched through the cracks as they swept the area, holding his breath every time one of them strayed a little too close for his comfort. He swallowed hard and with the hand not holding a blaster he fumbled for the beacon in his pocket, pressing it repeatedly and hoping that on the other end, someone was listening.

Finn groaned under his breath as the ‘Troopers inched dangerously closer and closer. This was _not_ how his day was supposed to go. It was supposed to be a simple milk run, a quick shopping trip for medical supplies on an outer rim planet no one—certainly not Finn—had heard of. General Organa insisted it was free of First Order influence, so Finn had volunteered once he heard they’d used a lot of their medical resources keeping him alive.

He’d volunteered, and naturally once he found out about it Poe had automatically invited himself along.

 _You need a pilot_ was all he’d said, clapping Finn on the back, wearing his trademark grin; smug, handsome, a little deranged. Finn didn’t bother arguing—if Poe wanted to tag along, Finn wouldn’t complain. Finn never really complained about anything Poe did. And he did need a pilot.

Except that pilot was back with the VCX-100, which was parked on a beach that was entirely too far away. They’d loaded the new supplies and were preparing to leave when Poe noticed something up with the landing gear. Finn, useless with ship repairs, had elected to hit the local marketplace while Poe fixed the ship. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but as Finn was buying a bag of Yavinian chiles for Poe, three ‘Troopers had rounded the corner, took one look at him, and opened fire. Finn had taken off like a kybuck, charging through the market the way he’d once run from Rey, back when she wasn’t yet a friend but a stick-wielding nightmare with cute freckles.

“Hey!”

Finn sucked in a breath. He looked up. One of the ‘Troopers stood above him, straddling the crevice with his blaster aimed right at Finn’s head. “Put your hands up!”

“Oh, come on!” Finn rolled his eyes and raised his hands—keeping the blaster in one of them. The ‘Trooper snorted.

“Drop it,” he said, finger twitching on the trigger of his own blaster. “Nice and easy.”

“Okay, sure.” Finn bent to put the blaster down. Halfway there, he tilted the blaster just slightly.

“Actually,” he said, glancing up at the ‘Trooper. “Not gonna.”

He pulled the trigger. The blast hit the ‘Trooper in the crotch, causing a shriek of pain and then the sickening thud of a body hitting the ground right in front of him. He poked the ‘Trooper with the tip of his boot.

“Well,” he said, twirling his blaster a little, maybe a little too cocky for the situation. Whatever, he just shot a Stormtrooper in the dick. His day was starting to improve.

The blaster fire, naturally, drew the attention of the other two ‘Troopers, so Finn scrambled out of the rocks and tucked himself behind them, under the shadow of a bush with huge leaves, the perfect shelter. He crouched down to wait.

“RJ-7000?” One of the other ‘Troopers approached from the south. “Where are you?”

Finn saw his chance. “Over here!” He pitched his voice in an approximation RJ-7000’s voice. Sure enough, a second ‘Trooper emerged from the underbrush and crept cautiously closer.

“Where?” The ‘Trooper poked at bushes with the barrel of her blaster. “If you’re being a dick, be a dick on your own time, banthafucker.”

The Stormtrooper stopped right in front of him. Finn carefully picked up a stone and flung it in the opposite direction. Sure enough, she turned to follow the sound, and Finn chose that moment to pop out of the bushes and tuck the blaster under her chin.

“On your left,” he said in her ear. He felt her swallow hard and drop her blaster. “Now, this is how it’s going to go. You are now a meat shield that’s gonna get me back to my ship in one piece, got it?”

“I prefer option B.”

Finn groaned. _You’ve got to be kidding me_. He turned and found the third ‘Trooper standing behind them, blaster aimed directly at his head. “The only way you’re leaving this planet is either in restraints, or dead. Your choice.” The ‘Trooper smirked; Finn could hear it in his voice. “Actually, it’s my choice, isn’t it?”

Finn tightened his grip on the second ‘Trooper. “I think you’re in no position to bargain with me,” he said. He pushed the blaster harder against her throat. “I’m going, now.”

The other ‘Trooper shrugged and fired, and the ‘Trooper in Finn’s arms slumped to the ground, a fresh hole where her stomach used to be. Finn blinked.

 _Well, that was a surprise_ , he thought. Then again, it really wasn’t. He remembered that tactic from training, but it had _never_ sat right with him. His stomach turned. He wasn’t going to kill his hostage; he’d never intended to. But he’d gotten her killed anyway. She wasn’t even armed.

 _I’ll never get used to this_ , he thought. He looked over at the other ‘Trooper, who was now pointing his blaster directly at Finn.

“So.” The ‘Trooper chuckled. “How do you want to do this? I can take you dead or alive, FN-2187.”

“Not my name,” said Finn. “But you don’t get to know my name. You’re not very nice.”

“I’m perfectly nice,” said the ‘Trooper. “You’re still alive, right. I’m very nice.” The blaster twitched. “Put it down.”

 _I got a bad feeling about this._ Finn put the blaster on the ground. The ‘Trooper made a kicking motion, and Finn sighed dramatically and kicked the blaster over.

“Okay,” said the ‘Trooper. “Here’s how this goes. I’m gonna let you live, because they’re gonna torture the _fuck_ out of you and I can’t _wait_ to listen.”

“Again,” said Finn, truly annoyed now, “not nice.”

“I’m letting you live, so shut the hell up or you'll see how _not nice_ I can be.” The ‘Trooper also sounded irritated, like Finn had ruined his whole day. _Likewise, fucker._ “Do I need to knock you out? Or can you go quietly?”

“Oh no, I am _not_ going to be quiet about this,” said Finn snidely. “In fact, I feel like singing Ewok love songs the _entire way."_

The Stormtrooper sighed. “So be it,” he said. He raised his blaster and Finn ducked his head, shut his eyes, and waited for the sound, the pain, the darkness.

Instead, he got a high-pitched shriek and a shout of surprise.

He opened his eyes to see a blur of black and white and brown. Something—a creature of some kind, medium-sized and furry—had launched itself from somewhere and was currently scratching the hell out of the ‘Trooper’s helmet as he flailed around and tried to hit it. Finn took the opportunity and darted over and scooped up his blaster, just as the ‘Trooper managed to dislodge the creature, fling it aside and shoot it. The creature warbled in pain and collapsed in a puddle of bloody fur.

Finn saw his chance; he fired. The ‘Trooper fell to the ground in an ungainly heap. Finn stood still for a moment, panting as adrenaline charged through his veins. Then he glanced over to where the creature lay, unmoving.

“Oh, little buddy,” he said softly. He tucked his blaster into its holster and crouched next to the little creature. It wasn’t anything Finn had ever seen before—it had a face like a loth-cat and a long, furry body. Its paws looked like little hands, and Finn guessed the long tail was probably prehensile. He wondered if it lived in the trees.

“Thanks for saving me,” said Finn. Sorrow leached into his chest—he hadn’t felt anything for the deaths of the many, many Stormtroopers he had killed so far in this war, but the death of the little whatever-it-is tugged at his heart. The sensation was like falling, drowning, a block of darkness. Pain. And—life?

 _Wait_.

Finn reached out and lay his hand on the unmarred fur on the creature’s back. The creature was still warm—it was _still_ _breathing_.

“Shit.” Finn gently moved the creature so that it lay on its side. The blaster wound still smoldered, bloody and angry looking. Now he could see the creature twitch and shake with shallow little breaths that seemed to be coming too fast.

 _I can leave it_ , he thought. _I can put it out of its misery and go back to the ship._

The instant he thought it a fresh wave of guilt crested over him, and he knew he wasn’t going to do either of those things.

“Nope,” he said to himself. “This not how it ends for you, little guy.”

He took off his jacket and spread it on the ground, gently lifting the creature into it and carefully wrapping it up. The creature shuddered uncontrollably, and Finn was momentarily overwhelmed with the sense of acute pain—pain that was _not his._

_Okay, deal with that later. Time to go._

Finn tucked the creature close to his chest and started retracing his path through the woods. He clutched his blaster and tried not to flinch at every snapped twig and chirp of an unfamiliar bird. He trudged through the woods, pausing once in a while to check on the creature. It was still alive, breathing still labored as it made tiny, whimpering sounds.

 _Please don’t die_ , Finn thought desperately. He could smell the ocean—they weren’t far from the ship now. “Hey,” he whispered to the top of the creature’s fuzzy head. “Hang in there. I got you. We’re gonna fix you up and release you, okay? I promise.” The creature did not answer except for a wounded little sigh. Finn stepped up the pace and did not stop moving until the ship was in sight.

Relieved, he ran up to where Poe stood at the bottom of the loading ramp, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he chatted with BB-8. Poe looked up when Finn approached and quickly dropped the smoke into the sand and stepped on it. He said something to BB-8, who chirped and rolled into the ship.

“What happened to you?” said Poe, exhaling a little cloud of something sweet in Finn’s direction. “Wait, what are you holding?”

“Fly now, questions later,” said Finn, running up the ramp. “I just had a little chat with some Stormtroopers, and I do _not_ want to see if they have friends.”

“Stormtroopers?” Poe jogged after him and closed up the ship behind him. “Wait, what?”

“Yep,” said Finn. “First Order got here first. We gotta go.”

Poe nodded. “Got it,” he said, heading for the cockpit. “Hang on, might be a little bumpy if we're leavin' in a hurry.”

“Noted!” Finn careened through the ship until he reached their sad little medbay, which was one bed and one medpac affixed to the wall. Finn carefully lay his coat and the creature on the bed and unwrapped it. He winced at all the blood. BB-8 rolled up beside him with a quizzical beep.

“Not now, Beeb,” he said. "'I got this. Go help Poe."

BB-8 trilled and scooted off. Finn opened the medpac and inspected its contents—bandages, bacta—ooh, _painkillers_. He took those first, pressing the hypo to the little creature’s side, just above the blaster wound. “Hang on,” he said softly, giving the creature a very small dose. It shuddered violently for a moment, then relaxed and stopped whimpering. Its breathing was still too fast, but it seemed a little stronger now that it wasn’t in pain. Finn felt that knot of discomfort that had lodged in his chest loosen a little.

(He even felt a little dopey, like _he’d_ been on the receiving end of that hypo.)

Finn dug through the meager supplies and found a pair of scissors, which he used to trim fur away from the wound. It wasn’t actually that deep; on a human it would have been pretty superficial, a glancing blow. On a creature that small, though, it could actually be fatal.

 _Not on my watch_ , thought Finn. He carefully cleaned the wound as best he could before covering it with a bacta patch and wrapping bandages around it to keep it there.

“Gonna have to keep you under for a while,” he said to the creature as he administered a tiny dose of sedative. “That’s what they did for me. Which sounds nice, like a good long nap, but let me tell you how disorienting it is to get hurt on one planet and wake up after a week on a spaceship you've never seen before while being attacked by the bad guys _.”_

The ship pitched and rumbled, and Finn could hear the unmistakable _pew pew_ of blaster fire. “Poe? We okay up there?”

“Yeah!” Something hit the side of the ship and Finn heard BB-8 say some words she'd clearly learned from R2. “Actually, maybe not?”

“ _Maybe not?”_

“No! It’s all good!” The ship shuddered from another hit. “Wait, no, could you do me a _huge_ favor, buddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Come up and shoot these TIE fighters for me? Before they kill us and we die?”

Finn arranged the little creature in the bed and covered it with a blanket. “Be right back,” he said to it, then darted off to blow some First Order fascists out of the sky.

_—_

“So, it saved you?” Poe asked once they were in hyperspace and out of reach. “The thingy, I mean?”

“It’s not a thingy,” said Finn. He looked down at the creature.

“What is it, then?”

Finn rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never seen one before. But that doesn’t mean much considering I was raised by an evil regime that didn’t seem too interested in teaching us about animals beyond what could be ridden and what could be eaten.”

Poe made a face. “Well,” he said, gently stroking the creature’s forehead with one finger. “I’ve never seen one, either. It’s cute, though.”

“Yeah.” Finn winced. “It really did save me, though. Hit the ‘Trooper’s face before he could shoot. I think all the blaster fire scared it and chased it out of the trees. It just happened to land on him.”

“At the exact right time,” added Poe with a smirk. “Sounds like you’ve got a new friend.”

“Nah, it was lucky,” said Finn. “Good timing, is all.”

“If you say so,” said Poe. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “Where’d you pick up the ‘Troops?”

Finn nodded. “They saw me in the marketplace,” he said. “Guess who has wanted posters of his mug on every First Order ship in the galaxy, apparently?”

Poe laughed. “You _rebel_ , you.” He squeezed Finn’s shoulder. “Listen, this thing—the Thingy—is gonna be fine. You doctored it up really well, and we have better resources on base. It’ll be fine.”

“It’s not a thingy,” said Finn. “We’ll have to go back. When it’s recovered. We have to bring it home.”

Poe shrugged. “You sure?” he asked. “You seem like the kinda guy who’d have a pet.”

“Yes,” said Finn. “Let me just get myself a pet in the middle of a galactic war to end all wars.” He laughed. “You have the _dumbest_ ideas, sometimes." He looked at BB-8 for confirmation, and she beeped once, short and sweet.

Poe shook his head at Finn and gave her a look. “Some of my dumb ideas turn out to be pretty good ones,” he said defensively.

Finn and BB-8 looked at each other.

"Hey, I can think of at least _eight_ occasions when I saved our asses with a dumb idea.” Poe reached over and poked Finn in the middle of his chest. “ _You_ have dumb ideas, too, Mister _Can-You-Fly-a-TIE-Fighter_."

“A dumb idea that also saved our asses,” said Finn dryly. “How long till we’re back at base?”

“A few hours,” said Poe. He jerked his head toward the cockpit. “Got a Sabacc deck up there. Bet you a bottle of Jet Juice I can school your ass five times in a row.”

Finn smiled. “That sounds good,” he said. “I’ve only played a little. Rey knows how, she learned it from smugglers.”

“Of course,” said Poe flatly. "She sure can do everything, can't she?"

Finn ignored him, not willing to take the bait and defend Rey when she doesn’t need defending. “We’ve been playing together when she’s not working with General Organa.” He grinned. “She’s _really_ good at it.”

“I bet,” said Poe with a sniff. “Well, I’ll go easy on you.”

Finn laughed. “Oh, don’t do that,” he said. “That’s no fun.”

“Alright then, I declare the challenge accepted.” Poe saluted. “Be up front when you’re ready, pal.”

After Poe was gone, Finn learned down to the little, sleeping creature.

“Don’t go nowhere,” he said softly. “I’ll check back in a little while.” He gave it a scratch behind one of its enormous ears, then followed after Poe.

—

Six games in, Poe groaned and tossed his cards on the dashboard. “Where did you learn to _hustle_ like that?” he asked in disbelief.

Finn sat back and grinned. “We played sabacc in the First Order almost every night. One of the few sanctioned things we could do for fun. I got really good at it.” He smirked. “We couldn’t play for credits because Stormtroopers don’t get paid, so we would sneak rations from the mess and play for those. If you wanted extra snacks, you learned to get really good at cards.”

“Damn,” said Poe with a little laugh. “Don’t ever breathe a word of this to Jess or Snap. They would _never_ leave it alone if they knew I got bamboozled by a former Stormtrooper. You’re all supposed to be naïve children who have never known joy.”

“Don’t worry,” said Finn. “Your shame is safe with me.”

Poe shot him a dirty look just as the dashboard lit up. “Honey, we’re home,” said Poe. “Dropping out of hyperspace.”

Ajan Kloss came into view as Poe brought them in through the clouds. He swung the ship into an open space a little way down from the X-Wings and set her down gently. Finn was always so impressed at how Poe's landings were either as soft as a sigh or a fiery ball of chaos. No in between.

Poe killed the engines and scooped up the sabacc deck, shuffling it into place and tucking it into his shirt pocket. “Let’s get the Thingy to medbay.”

“Would you stop calling it that,” said Finn. “It’s not a thingy. Don’t start that.”

Poe grinned at him as he got up from the pilot’s seat. “Too late.”

—

“It’s a very bad wound on an animal so small,” said Major Kalonia, after listening to the creature’s heart. “But we’ve got bacta and bandages, and I’ll start something to help with infection.”

“What’re its chances?” asked Finn. “Be honest.”

Kalonia made an uncertain noise. “Difficult to say,” she said cagily. “Finn, I’m confident we can try to help, but you should also prepare for the very real possibility—”

Finn’s jaw twitched. “I’m not prepared for it,” he said. “Which means it’s not gonna happen.”

“Finn—”

“Not gonna happen,” he said again, decisively. Kalonia studied him for a long moment before smiling, warm and a little sad.

“Not gonna happen,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t know what species your friend is, she’s not in any database I can find.”

"Whatever lives on Centa 5." Finn looked down at where he was gently stroking the creature’s head. "Maybe just undiscovered?"

"Maybe." Kalonia patted him on the arm. “There’s no sense in you sticking around,” she said. “I’m going to keep her sedated until I think the wound is healed enough that it won’t traumatize her when she wakes up.” She looked at Finn with a wrinkle of concern in her brow. “You probably can’t return her to the wild, though.”

Finn blinked. “Wait, why not?”

“Her ability to hunt and hide from predators will be severely diminished by a wound like this. I don’t think she’d survive a day.”

Finn swallowed hard. “She saved my life,” he said. “I have to save hers.”

Kalonia nodded. “Go get some rest,” she said. “The med-droids and I will keep watch.”

“Thanks, Major.” Finn walked out of medbay—right into Rey. “Hey!”

Saying nothing, Rey looked him over and quickly patted down his arms, his chest. She grabbed his face and tilted his head in different directions, stepping back once she looked satisfied. “Okay, good.”

“Good?”

“I ran into Poe a few minutes ago, and he said you’d gone to medbay,” she said. “He didn’t say why, so I assumed the worst.” She scowled. “The ass didn’t even bother to mention that you were _perfectly fine_.”

“That ass got _my_ ass back here,” he said with a smile. “So show some respect.”

“Yes, well.” Rey twinkled at him. “We _all_ know what _you_ think of that ass.”

“Okay, listen up—"

“Can I at least threaten him?”

“No.”

“Please?” Rey pitched her voice a little whiny. She fondled the hilt of the lightsaber at her hip. “I’ll just singe his hair a little.”

“Don’t you _touch_ that hair,” said Finn urgently.

Rey snickered. "So what happened?"

Finn took a deep breath and began to explain the confrontation with the 'Troopers. “Hey,” he said, pausing when fear bloomed on Rey's face as he recounted the fight. “I’m okay.”

“I know, but you so very nearly _weren’t_ , and—right, from now on I go with you.”

“General Organa’s going to have something to say about that.” He patted her. “Relax, Jedi. I was saved by a, uh, _creature_. From the forest.”

He drew her back into the medbay and over to the bed. “I don’t know what she is,” he said. “But she jumped on a Stormtrooper and tried to bite his face off, which gave me a chance.” He frowned. “But the asshole shot her before I could drop him.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at the creature. “I’ve never seen one of these before.” Rey looked up at him and grinned. “Your new girlfriend is cute,” she said.

“Ha ha ha,” said Finn without mirth. “Jakku humor is an oxymoron.”

“You’re a moron,” she said, elbowing him. “Did the doctor say if she’d recover?”

“Touch and go,” said Finn with a sigh. “Don’t suppose you have fancy healing powers?”

“Not yet,” said Rey. “Master Leia says it’s something I can learn.” Finn found it endearing that she insisted on referring to General Organa as _Master_ despite the General's own order for Rey to call her _Leia_. Finn figured _Master Leia_ was their compromise.

Rey gave Finn a sad smile. “But I don’t think it’s something I can learn overnight, though. I’m sorry, my friend.”

“It’s ok,” said Finn. He fought off a yawn. “I need the ‘fresher and a nap,” he said. “See you at dinner?”

Rey nodded. “I heard it’s wampa steak,” she said. “I’ve never even _seen_ a wampa, let alone eaten one.” Her eyes sparkled.

“Girl,” said Finn. “I have not seen you turn down food _at all_ since we got here. How can you eat that much? Where is it going? Are you keeping it in a second stomach you have under the bed?”

“Shut up,” said Rey, shoving at him. “You have _no idea_ how food worked on Jakku.”

“It wasn’t a very friendly place from my experience,” he said. “So, I’m thinking it was pretty shitty.”

“Very shitty,” said Rey. She pecked his cheek. “Don’t stay in here all day, moping over your little friend. Either find me or Poe, don’t sit here and sulk.”

“I’m not sulking _or_ moping.”

“You _are_ ,” she said. Rey poked his cheek with a skinny finger. “Here”—she poked the other side of his face—“and here.”

He batted her away. “Get out of here, I’m going to say goodnight and then go wash up and collapse for seventeen hours.”

Rey laughed and darted off, scurrying out of the medbay and taking half the presence in the room with her. Finn looked back down at the creature, then pulled up a chair and sank into it.

“I’m so sorry,” he said after a moment. There wasn’t anyone else there, so Finn felt okay speaking to a sleeping, wounded animal. “I’m sorry we scared you. You should be napping in a tree or something right now.”

He sighed shakily. “There are too many innocent bystanders in this,” he said, mostly to himself, thinking of the Jakku villagers he’d refused to shoot well over a year ago. The decision that brought him to Poe, to Rey, to the Resistance.

“Listen, you _have_ to live, okay?” said Finn, a little choked. “I need—people keep getting caught in the crossfire of this big damn mess, so. Someone’s gotta live, for once.”

Finn exhaled deeply.

“Please,” he whispered. “ _Live_.”

—

An hour later, Finn was sitting on his bunk in their shared room poking at his data pad when Poe walked in, BB-8 at his heels.

“Hey, didn’t see you in the mess,” said Poe, shrugging off his jacket and immediately shedding his shirt and shoes, in that order. Finn glanced up and immediately looked down again, because he was _not_ in the mood to deal with shirtless Poe Dameron. The universe could only expect so much of him. He stabbed a finger at the data pad a little harder than necessary.

“Yeah,” he said, trying not to keep looking up and failing miserably. All that _skin_ , desert-brown and pocked with little scars as well as some big ones. His pants hung low on his hips, revealing just a hint of the swell of his ass. Every time he moved, they slipped a little more.

Finn gulped.

“Sorry," he said with a slight squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Sorry. I got cleaned up and then got very, very tired.” BB-8 rolled up to him and he patted her on the dome. She squeaked. "Hi to you too, BB-8."

“You did get shot at a lot, today.” Poe ditched his pants (BB-8 bleeped the droid equivalent of a gasp and scurried into her charging hub as Finn's face bloomed with heat, and he yanked his own eyes away from that stupid, perfect ass) and went into the ‘fresher. Finn could hear the hum of the shower firing up.

“Gonna be a while,” Poe called out. He always washed up with the door open. “You need this thing before I get in?”

“Nah,” said Finn. “I’m fine. Still trying to find out what the creature is.”

“The Thingy?” Poe’s voice sounded metallic and hollow, and Finn heard splashing and a deep, obscene groan. “Wow, this feels amazing.”

 _Oh, this is just not_ fair, thought Finn. He gripped the data pad so hard he wondered if he’d break it.

“It’s _not a thingy_ ,” he called out. “There’s nothing about them anywhere. There’s barely anything about that planet, period, except it has a decent black market and no First Order goons.” He frowned. “Had. _Had_ a black market and no goons.”

“But now: goons,” said Poe over the splash of the water. “And the goons shot your friendly little gremlin or whatever it is. Since you won’t let me call it a Thingy.”

“It’s disrespectful,” said Finn. “How I let _you_ name _me_ showed incredible trust on my part that you should appreciate more.”

“I appreciate you all the time, buddy,” said Poe easily. Finn rolled back and forth on his bed in misery. More splashing. “Wow, I think I brought half that planet home with me. There’s sand in my hair. I barely _touched_ the beach.”

“I had leaves where you don’t want leaves,” said Finn. He gave up and tossed the data pad aside and lay back on his bunk, arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. A moment later, Poe began warbling the way he always did when he cleaned up for the night. Finn didn’t know the language, but the song was catchy, and Poe had a nice voice.

(Poe also owned an old hallikset, and there’d been a few nights when neither of them could sleep that Poe had dug it out and sang to Finn old Rebel songs his mother and father had taught him. Finn liked those nights, just the two of them shooting the shit about everything and nothing. The exhaustion the next day was worth it.)

“Okay!” Poe emerged and Finn made the grievous error of looking up again. Poe stood in a cloud of steam in nothing but a towel fitted loosely around his waist. Finn groaned and grabbed his pillow and held it over his own face.

“Finn?” The rustle of clothes being pulled out of a closet went quiet. “You ok, buddy?”

Finn exhaled loudly into the pillow. “Fine!” he said, muffled. “Just—frustrated.”

“About the Thingy?”

“ _Still_ not a thingy, but sure. Yes. Very frustrating.” Finn waited another minute before peeking out from under his pillow. Poe was now blessedly, mostly clothed—he at least had shorts on and his favorite shirt to sleep in, thin and almost transparent. Finn gulped, stuffed the pillow under his head and rolled on his side, facing away from Poe and Poe’s… _everything_.

(Rey, too wise for someone who had to be reminded to shower, had called it a _crush_. “Some of the smugglers who came through Niima liked to gossip when they were drunk, so I heard a lot about romance trouble.”

“Learn anything useful?” Finn had asked.

“Yes,” said Rey. “Romance is trouble.”

“Not useful.”

“I grew up alone in a desert and you're asking _me_?”)

Finn wasn’t a stranger to this kind of thing. A Stormtrooper might be conditioned within an inch of their life, but even the First Order couldn’t turn off _feelings_ —especially _pants feelings_. Finn was _very_ familiar with his hand from the age of about thirteen, and once in a while Slip would crawl into his bunk and they’d indulge in a little silent fooling around. It didn’t mean much, though Finn did get kind of attached in the end. Slip’s death had hurt.

Finn had even flirted with someone (as much as they could flirt while under constant surveillance): a cute TIE pilot they called Teezer. Her actual designation was TS-1989, but she was one of the better pilots and got her nickname for the way she would ‘tease’ Resistance fighters, annoying them just enough to break their concentration and make them reckless, easier to kill. She had the highest body count of all the TIE pilots. She also had pretty blonde hair, freckles, and an infectious grin. FN-2187 had _adored_ her.

He’d tried talking to her on the rare occasions they crossed paths. He dropped some serious and painfully awkward hints that he'd be up for shenanigans in the storage rooms. She’d laughed him off—not cruelly, she was nice about it—and he’d given up immediately, instead admiring her from afar until one day when she didn’t come back from a mission.

Nothing said about it among the ranks, and the other pilots never mentioned her again. Finn wondered what had happened to her for months. He still did, sometimes.

Rey reminded him a little of Teezer. Finn adored Rey, too, and he’d tried some awkward flirting in the beginning ( _if you can call asking her if she had a boyfriend twenty minutes after meeting her and escaping the First Order in a stolen ship_ flirting _, for fuck's sake self_ ) but Rey was decidedly more interested in friendship. Finn respected that, because he couldn't imagine trying to force Rey into anything and he wouldn't try at all, period. She’d never had a friend before, so Finn didn’t push, didn’t beg, didn’t ask again, and eventually his relationship with Rey solidified into a bullheaded devotion to each other, completely devoid of anything resembling romance.

(He was pretty sure he knew _why_ it felt like they were connected so deeply, but he wasn't sure he was ready to talk about it with anyone yet. Or maybe he was. His mood about it changed hourly. Either way, he hadn't told Rey yet, and he certainly hadn't told Poe.)

Poe was something else. Finn had actually heard of Poe Dameron, or at least _The Best Pilot in the Resistance_. There were stories—a lot of them from Teezer—of a particular pilot who was not only extremely talented at fucking things up for the Order, but also seemed _delighted_ every time he got to do it. Teezer never mentioned him by name (Finn had assumed it was classified, 'Troopers at his level weren't privy to most of the machinations of the First Order) but she’d also said repeatedly—drunk on moonshine brewed in an unused ‘fresher near the barracks—that she couldn’t wait to shoot him down one day.

“And then,” she’d hiccupped. “I’ll find the crash and what’s left of him, and _shoot him again.”_

Finn knew the prisoner they'd picked up on Jakku was a pilot—he'd seen the guy's X-Wing go up in flames—but he hadn’t known his name, so even when introduced in the TIE fighter it didn’t register. It wasn’t until he got to the base on D’Qar and overheard someone say they were glad not to lose their best pilot to the First Order that it finally clicked, and Finn had realized he had accidentally-on-purpose rescued said _Best Pilot in the Resistance_. When General Organa confirmed it later, Finn felt an unsettling mix of pride and anxiety as a result.

He thought of Teezer. _Look at me now, Teez, fraternizing with your sworn enemy._ The guilt surprised him.

Finn shuddered with all the _what ifs_ that haunted him some (most) nights. _What if I hadn’t been assigned to Jakku? What if I’d chickened out at the last minute? What if I’d shot the villagers along with the others? What if I’d been sent for reconditioning sooner? Poe would be dead, Rey would still be a scavenger, and Luke Skywalker still missing. Starkiller would still exist. Planets would be destroyed._

_Where would I be now, if I hadn't lowered my blaster?_

“Buddy?” Poe’s voice was soft. “You awake still?”

Finn didn’t reply, deciding to feign sleep instead of trying to explain why the combination of being shot at, saving an injured creature with a fifty-fifty chance of survival, his usual array of doubts and fears, and a naked, singing Poe Dameron within arm's length is just _too damn much_ for one man to handle.

 _This has been the_ longest _day,_ he thought.

Poe chuckled. “G’night, Finn.”

Finn closed his eyes and tried to tune out the sounds of Poe bustling around the room while he got ready for bed. Finn heard Poe in the 'Fresher humming softly as he brushed his teeth, a _whoosh_ of the waste receptacle groaning with age and the abuse of an entire base, the sound of running water. A moment later, the lights went out and Finn opened his eyes to a darkened room.

Poe’s bed creaked as he got into it. Finn waited until the movement stopped and Poe settled down. He heard a deep, a happy little sigh, and then just soft breathing that slowly evened out.

Finn rolled over. BB-8 glowed softly in the dark with her pulsing, calming blue light as she charged. Finn’s eyes had adjusted enough to the dark to be able to make out the shape of Poe in the opposite bed, though he couldn’t see his face very well. He knew what Poe looked like asleep, though. The nights they stayed up too late, and Poe would inevitably drop off first, slumped across his bed or, occasionally, Finn’s shoulder. Finn would _never_ tell anyone (okay, he’d told Rey, but he told her almost everything) but Finn loved the press of Poe’s warm, strong body against his side, and he wouldn’t give it up for the world.

As a result, Finn had watched Poe sleep on several occasions, fascinated by the rise and fall of Poe’s chest, the glint of his mother’s wedding ring resting crookedly against his collarbone, slightly parted lips as he breathed. He drooled and snored like he was dying, and sometimes made other, less delicate noises that made Finn giggle and make a mental note to keep Poe from eating favu beans for dinner again.

Finn knew he was being creepy by staring at a man while he was sleeping, but sleepy Poe was too endearing. He was relaxed and still, and Finn wanted nothing more than to get up and go to Poe’s bed and crawl in, and never come out again. They didn’t even have to _Do Things_ (although _oh boy_ did Finn want to _Do Things_ ), Finn would have been fine with a good, solid cuddle. Poe ran hot and smelled good, like blaster fire and whatever he put in his hair. Finn felt a little dreamy just thinking about it.

With an unsatisfying yawn, Finn thought of getting up to check on the little creature in the medbay, but sleep tugged at him until he sank deeper into his pillows, yanked his blanket over his head, and squeezed his eyes shut against the day he’d had.

He fell asleep to Poe's dull roar.

—

The next morning found Finn in the medbay instead of at breakfast, quietly creeping up to the creature’s bed to have a look. He didn’t know what all the readouts meant, but he did know what a heart monitor was and a steady, quick little beep made Finn relax substantially.

“Hey, girl.” Finn pulled up the chair and sat next to the bed. He gingerly touched one tiny paw with his finger. “Glad you’re still here.”

The beeping continued, though Finn could have sworn there was a tiny little _blip_ when he spoke. “I know you can’t understand me, you’re probably not even listening, but.” He smiled a little. "I remember the sounds of people talking to me when I was under and it felt pretty good, so I'm gonna do you a favor and give it a try."

Finn leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “I don’t think you’re going to get to go home, little friend.” He sighed. “The doctor says you’re too injured to be able to survive on your own. I’m so, so sorry.”

He tapped the little paw, _tap tap tap_. “We can make you comfortable here," he said. "I mean, maybe the Resistance needs a mascot?” Finn chuckled. “Poe—he’s one of my best friends—said I could keep you as a pet, but. Not a fan.” He frowned. "I know what it feels like to be owned. It's not great, and I don't want to do that to anything or anyone."

Finn took a deep breath. “You saved my life," he said on the exhale. "Those were Stormtroopers, dunno if you know what they are, you probably have no idea there's even a war on. They're the bad guys. I used to work for them, but believe me, it wasn't my idea. I got away from them about a year ago, but if you hadn't come along they'd have taken me back and—"

Finn inhaled sharply, then let the breath out slow and even. _You're ok._

"I'm out, though. I'm free. Now I’m with the Resistance, and no one owns me anymore,” he added, proudly. “No one’s going to own you, either. You're gonna be fine, and then we'll figure everything else out."

Someone knocked on the door. Finn looked up. Poe stood in the entryway, hands braced on either side of the doorframe as he leaned into the room. BB-8 peeked out from around his legs and warbled a hello.

"Hey!" said Poe. “You coming to breakfast?”

“Yeah,” said Finn. “Was just checking on her.” He nodded at the creature. "She's breathing a lot better today."

Poe entered the room stood next to Finn beside the bed. "Looking good,” he said, peering at all the machinery.

“You understand this stuff?” Finn waved his arm at all the machines and blinking lights. “How?”

“Academy,” he said. “Everyone is trained to be able to operate a medbay in a pinch, just in case. Comes in handy. I know what the numbers and readouts mean, but I can’t exactly operate on someone’s spleen.”

“Stay away from mine,” said Finn, getting to his feet. “Glad to know she’s doing ok.”

“She’s fine,” said Poe, slinging an arm around him. “C’mon, let me buy you some flatcakes.”

“They’re free.”

“Shhhh.”

He let Poe steer him out of the medbay and down to the mess. BB-8 rolled off to annoy Threepio for fun while Finn and Poe fixed themselves plates and took them to the table that (unofficially) belonged to Black Squadron. Jess and Snap were the only ones left, picking at their food and staring at data pads. Finn plunked his plate down across from Jess. Poe sat next to him.

“Hey,” said Jess, not looking up from her pad as she stuffed a forkful of something green into her mouth. She spoke while chewing. “Wonderin’ when you’d show up.”

“She’s beauty, she’s grace, there's food stuffed in her face.” Snap ducked when Jess flung a roll in his direction. “Seriously, though, Testor. Where the fuck are your manners?”

“Same place your brain is, nobody the fuck knows.” She burped and a nearby table cheered. She toasted them with her glass of milk and took a big drink. “Have fun on Centa 5?" she asked Poe.

“Fun? Is that what it’s called?” said Finn. “I couldn’t remember, what with being shot at.”

“Who was shooting at you?” asked Snap.

Finn shrugged. “Stormtroopers.”

Jess and Snap both looked up. “On Centa 5?” asked Jess. She shot Poe a look. “I thought there wasn’t a First Order presence there!”

“Yeah, so did we,” said Poe, crunching an apple. “Finn got the worst of it.”

“I got _all_ of it,” Finn kicked him lightly under the table. “This guy stayed behind to _fix the ship_ , which translates to, _I was smoking questionable substances and goofing off with my droid and_ ignoring the distress beacon _the entire time Finn was being murdered in an alien forest._ ”

“Hey!” Poe kicked him back. “How was I supposed to know you’d pissed off the local book club?”

“Why’d they come after you?” asked Jess. Poe brightened like a proud parent and elbowed Finn.

“Someone’s got a bounty on his head!” Poe sounded entirely too pleased about it. “First Order’s most wanted!”

“Doubt that,” said Snap. “That honor goes to our good General.”

“Debatable, now.” Poe slung an arm around Finn’s shoulders. “He's worth a fortune. In the thousands, tens of thousands. Maybe even _hundreds of thousands_. More than me, or even Rey." He smacked a hand against Finn's chest. "The First Order _loves_ this guy."

Jess and Snap exchanged a look.

“Quick,” said Jess. “Get his legs.” They shoved their plates aside and lunged across the table. Poe shifted Finn easily out of the way and batted their hands back.

“Nice try,” he said. “But Finn is _my_ mealticket. I saw him first.”

Finn gave him a look. “Thanks.”

Poe grinned at him. He clasped his hand against the back of Finn’s neck and gave him a squeeze and a little shake before yanking him to the side and planting a very noisy kiss to his temple. “You're mi— _ours_ now,” he said, patting Finn’s back. “I’m not planning to let them have you back anytime soon.” He rose from his seat. “Jess, Snap—we’ve got drills this morning. Suit up and grab the others and meet at the hangar at 0900.”

“Aye aye, Commander,” they replied in unison. “It’s not going to be that fucking Ræh Maneuver again, is it?” asked Jess. "It's cool but it always makes me want to horf."

Poe grinned. “Just for that, yes it is.”

“ _Poe_ ,” Snap groaned. “Please. Something else? Anything else?”

Poe pretended to think for a moment, then: “Nah.” He rose from his seat. “I need to go suit up. I mean it—0900 and every second you’re late is another suicide run.”

Jess and Snap got up with noises of protest. “Finn,” said Jess. “Your boyfriend is an asshole. I don’t know if you’re aware of this.”

It was an old joke, not really funny anymore but familiar. It still made Finn smile every time. Running jokes meant he belonged here. “Hey, Boyfriend?” said Finn, looking up at Poe. “Stop being an asshole.”

Something flashed in Poe’s eyes for just a split second, long enough for Finn to catch it but not long enough to translate. Poe didn't say anything, and a moment later the look was gone, replaced by a cocky grin and nice teeth.

Poe gave them all a little salute. “See you later?” he said to Finn. Finn nodded and Poe flashed him a wink before busing his plate and heading out of the mess. Jess and Snap got up to follow, though they lingered for a moment, watching Poe walk away.

“He’s got it _bad_ ,” she muttered. Snap flicked her ear. “Ow!”

Finn frowned. “Who’s got what, now?”

Snap waved him off. “Nothing. Poe’s just being _Poe_.”

“What’s that mean?”

Jess snorted. “Getting in over his head, mostly,” was all she said. She and Snap waved as they left with their plates, and Finn was alone. He didn't mind. Solitude was rare in a increasingly crowded space, and he soaked up what he could. He busied himself with his food and ran through a few ground maneuvers in his head, using the table condiments to block out movement. He was really looking forward to blaster training in a few hours.

He was not alone for long. Across from him Rey plunked down a tray full of pretty much everything the mess had on offer. She grinned at him, picked up a crispy roll and inhaled it.

“You’re like a Sarlaac pit,” said Finn. “Do you even chew?”

Rey had her mouth full, and despite being a feral desert orphan she had _some_ manners, so instead of telling him off she flashed him a rude gesture. Finn picked at his flatcakes, then just to be a dick he tried to swipe an egg from Rey’s plate. She knocked his hand away and hissed.

“Okay, okay.” Finn laughed. “So, what're you doing, today?”

Rey crunched on another roll. “The obstacle course is done, so Master Leia wants me to give it a go and see how far I can get.” She cast about for a napkin, found a clean one abandoned by Jess, and wiped the sauce off her chin. She launched into telling Finn about being able to float up into and descend from the trees. It sounded pretty cool, but Finn only heard half of it.

 _Do it now_.

“Rey?” He interrupted her mid-sentence but instead of annoyed Rey looked quizzical. “I have to—Uh.”

“What is it, my friend?” Rey’s expression of confusion turned into concern as Finn struggled to find the right words. “Are you okay?” She inhaled sharply. “Is it your little creature? Did she—”

“No,” said Finn. “She’s alive. I checked this morning. I just…I have to tell you something. It’s important.”

“Okay?”

 _How do you even_ say _it? Hi, I think someday I could maybe lift rocks, too. I know what people are feeling even if they don’t. I sense pain and suffering. I have weirdly prophetic thoughts._

It all sounded really stupid when he said it in his own head, so he decided on a different tactic. He picked up the saltshaker and sprinkled a little pile of salt in the middle of the table, then swallowed hard as he held his hand over it, palm down. He relaxed and let himself fall into the sensation, allowed himself to pick out every individual grain of salt and study them in all their similarities and differences. He’d never done this before, never even let himself try. Would have been too much truth for him to deal with in the midst of abandoning his previous life and everything he'd ever known to fight with strangers in a war no one wanted.

He kept his eyes closed and didn’t open them until he heard Rey’s gasp. When he looked, he was surprised and pleased to see the salt swirling under his hand in a tiny little funnel cloud.

Rey’s face was _delighted_.

“Finn!” she squeaked. “Oh—this is wonderful!” She reached out and grabbed his hand, sending the salt cascading across the table. “How long have you known?”

“Not long,” he said, intertwining their fingers. “First felt it on Jakku, when I couldn't bring myself to shoot anyone. But it's all this little stuff that’s built up over the last year, lately it’s getting, I don’t know. Louder.” He told her what had happened with the little creature. “I felt her pain and presence. It’s how I knew she was still alive.”

“Empathy is a big part of the Force,” said Rey. “Sounds like you got a rather large dose of it.”

“Maybe.”

Rey let go of his hands, but leaned across the table and gave Finn a kiss on the forehead. “My friend, you will make a fantastic Jedi.”

“That’s the thing,” said Finn, hesitant and suddenly nervous. “I don't think I _want_ to be a Jedi.”

Rey looked startled, as though she didn’t understand why someone _wouldn’t_ want to be a Jedi. “Why?”

He had no singular answer to that. It was a myriad of reasons. It scared the death out of him, first and foremost. He’d seen what Rey could do, the damage she could inflict, and he’d never tell her, but he can also feel the burning rage in her heart. It wasn't as though she hadn't earned that fury: she was abandoned on a shitty planet in the middle of nowhere by parents who never came back for her, she was raised by heartless thugs and criminals who never showed her love, and she’d been working since she was five just to feed herself. She had every _right_ to be angry.

Under all that rage, though, was kindness and love, and Finn knew that was what would keep Rey on the side of the Light. Finn on the other hand had grown up with stories of the Emperor, Lord Vader, Supreme Leader Snoke, and Ren. Finn knew far too much about the Dark than he was comfortable with. He worried that it was just dormant in him, installed there by years of influence. _Waiting_.

Jedi suited Rey. Finn wanted other things.

“I think,” he said, when Rey opened her mouth to ask again, “I want to be more like General Organa. She has the Force, but she doesn’t use it to fight. When this is over, I never want to fight again."

“Balance,” said Rey, nodding. “Master Leia has been through so much. She told me she would have made a terrible Jedi.”

“Do you believe her?”

“I’ve never seen her with a lightsaber, so I couldn’t really say,” said Rey. Finn noticed that somehow, in the last few minutes of their conversations, Rey had polished off all the food she’d brought and was now eyeing the rest of Finn’s half-eaten flatcake. Sighing, he pushed it toward her. She wiggled in delight and picked up her fork. “She doesn’t seem interested, though. I don’t blame her. Her father was Darth Vader, Luke abandoned her and the Resistance, and her son turned out to be very, very evil, so she’s really got no reason to trust the Jedi, does she?”

“Not really,” said Finn. “Rey, I don’t want to be a Jedi because..." He hunched a little. "I don’t want to be tempted.”

“Finn,” said Rey, dropping her fork to squeeze his hand in both of hers. “Darling Finn. I don’t think it’s actually possible for you to turn away from the Light.” She grinned at him. “You’re a good man with a good soul, and I think if you really want to learn you would be a great Force-user in whatever way you want.” She let go, picked up her fork again and took a bite of the flatcake. “You should talk to Master Leia.”

Finn was quiet for a moment. “I should talk to Poe, too,” he said with a sigh.

Rey stared at him. “You haven’t told Poe?!” She kicked his ankle, a little too hard. “ _Why_ haven’t you told him?”

“I don’t know!” said Finn, throwing up his hands. “I’m worried that—well, you know what happened to him on Jakku, right?”

Frowning, Rey shook her head. "He's never gone into any detail about it, no."

Finn swallowed. It wasn't really his story to tell, but he _really_ needed her help. “Before we bailed out of the _Finalizer_ , he was tortured. First by an interrogation droid and then by Lor— Uh, Ren." He cleared his throat, ashamed that he still tripped up on that. Rey waved him on. "He went into Poe’s head to find out where the map was, and I don't know for sure but I think he rearranged some stuff while he was in there.”

Rey’s eyes turned horrified and sad. “It was terrible when he did it to me,” she said, and Finn was momentarily consumed by an all-out desire to Force-choke Ren until his eyes popped out. _Yep, definitely true Jedi material._ “Even though I was able to chase him out." She looked heartbroken. "Oh, Poe," she said. "I'll try to be a bit nicer to him."

“Yeah,” said Finn, leaning a little closer and dropping his voice. “He still gets dreams about it sometimes. Gets up in the middle of the night and doesn't always go back to bed. He'll watch holos or go work on his ship instead of sleeping when it gets really bad." Finn winced. “I’d rather not make it worse by telling him _hey, there’s a Force-user literally two feet from you right now._ ”

“You know he wouldn’t react badly,” she said gently. “He’s your other best friend. I’m told he even answers to _boyfriend_.”

“Don’t _you_ start.”

Rey studied him for a moment, so intently that for a crazy moment, Finn wanted to hide under the table. “That’s really what it is, though, isn’t it?” she murmured. “You don’t want him to look at you differently.”

“I don’t want him to _hate me_ ,” said Finn. He rubbed his temple, where Poe had kissed him. “I don’t want him to look at me and wonder if I’m reading his mind, or whatever. I don't even know if I can do that.”

“It’s very difficult to do. You’re more likely to sense feelings than thoughts, especially untrained. Also, he'd know," she said darkly. "You _know_ when someone's in your head."

“That's reassuring and scary as hell, but...” He sighed. “I’ve heard his nightmares, you haven’t. I am not going to add to the rotation.”

“ _Please_ talk to Master Leia,” said Rey urgently. “She can help you learn to control it, so you don’t _have_ to worry.”

“I’ll _still_ _worry_ ,” said Finn. “Rey, think about it—what would you do if it were me? If I’d been horribly violated by a Force-user, and you turned out to be one and we share quarters. What would you do?”

Rey was silent for a long moment. “I… _might_ not tell you,” she said at last. Finn didn’t feel triumph, only resignation. “I’m sorry, Finn. This should be exciting for you.”

"It is, it is." Finn nodded vigorously. "Believe me, I'm freaking out plenty on the inside. I never thought this kind of thing could happen to me. I'm just a stormtrooper."

Rey shook her head. "Was," she said sternly. " _Was_ a Stormtrooper. And not _just_ anything. Finn, it's really not surprising you have the Force, with a heart as big as yours."

Finn felt his cheeks burn. "Rey, c'mon."

"Don't argue." She smiled at him and poked at the long-cold flatcake. “Please talk to Poe. I don’t think he’ll react the way you fear he will.”

“You don’t _know_ that, though.” Finn was frustrated. She wasn’t _getting_ it. “Rey, you know how I feel about him. I can’t—I don’t want to jeopardize that by telling him he lives with a space wizard.”

She kicked him again. “We’re not _space wizards._ ”

“Space wizards, with laser swords.” Finn sat back and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just—don’t make a big deal out of this. I’ll talk to General Organa, but I’d rather nobody else know right now.”

“No one?” Rey looked confused again, and Finn would never get over the endearing way her nose wrinkled when she squinted at him in suspicion. “Not even Rose? The other pilots?”

Finn shook his head. “As of this moment, you're the only person—organic or droid—who knows,” he said. “I’ll tell the General, and…”

“And?”

“…nothing.” Finn rose from his seat. “Want me to take your other plate?”

Rey passed it up to him. “We’re not done talking about this,” she said pointedly. “Tell me when you talk to Master Leia. And please, _please_ reconsider telling Poe. He won’t react badly, I _promise_ you. Have some faith in him.”

“This is funny, coming from you. Didn’t you call him an ass yesterday?”

“He _is_ an ass,” she said, tucking into rest of her flatcake. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to get some.” She grinned. "I think that's the phrase for it."

Finn almost dropped the plate. “Stop hanging out with Jess!”

Rey laughed and waved him away. Finn took her plate and dropped it off at the counter. He didn’t have anything until 1100, so he decided to go back to medbay and check on the creature, and _not_ think about what Rey had said.

—

The creature was a little better when Finn returned to her bedside. Her breathing was more regular now—no longer quick and shaky but the deep sighs of the very asleep. Finn sat down and tapped her paw with his finger.

“So,” he said quietly. He glanced around—in the next room the med-droids were hovering around a Twi’lek with her arm in a sling, and Major Kalonia was in her office, just visible past the door. “I have a secret to tell you.” He leaned in a little closer. “I can use the Force.”

The lack of response actually made him feel a little better. “I _felt_ you,” he went on, gently tapping her paw again. He traced the length of a long, elegant claw. “When you were shot. I felt how much it hurt and how scared you were. But it also told me you were alive. It told me to save you. I would have anyway, but the Force was that last little push that told me I could do it.”

Finn nibbled on his thumbnail. “I can do other stuff, apparently. I lifted some salt, which are technically rocks I guess. I have these hunches that are almost always right. I feel everything around me if I let my guard down at all.

"I’m scared, though,” he whispered. “Poe was tortured by a Force-user. It stayed with him, I don’t want to make it worse.” He shuffled his feet anxiously. “I don’t want to make him afraid. We have enough to be afraid of. He doesn’t need anything else. It's hard enough dealing with this without worrying I'll alienate my best friend.” He sighed. "It'd be a lot easier to be excited about it if I didn't think I was going to lose a friend over it."

Finn sighed. “Poe—you’d like him. Everyone does. He’s that kind of guy. He’s a pilot. You should see him fly, it's...ugh, it's just _beautiful_.” He swallowed. “It's probably extremely obvious even to a sedated creature that I am _completely into that_.” He dropped his head into his hands and ran them over his hair, scratched the back of his neck. “It’s really bad, little friend. I care about him a lot—ugh, sorry, that's not accurate enough. I _love_ the guy, so if I scare him off—”

He shut that thought down quickly. It made him feel nauseated.

Finn tapped her paw again. “Things are fine the way they are. You’re going to get better and we’ll find a safe place for you to live, and then we’ll win the war. Poe will go back to Yavin and his dad, I know he misses him, and Rey wants to start a Jedi temple, and I—”

 _Oh shit_ , he thought. _What_ will _I do?_

“I don’t know what I’ll do after the war,” he said softly. “I'm worried there won't be a place for me once it’s over. War’s all I’ve ever known.” He was quiet for a moment. "I don't know what a normal life should be like."

A knock at the door startled him and he turned. “Oh, hey.”

“Hey.” Poe and BB-8 walked (and rolled) into the medbay. BB-8 scurried over to Finn and beeped a hello as Poe stood at the end of the creature’s bed. “Lookin’ pretty good,” he said, eyeing the machines again.

“Yeah,” said Finn, patting BB-8's dome as she cooed happily. Poe was in his flight suit, helmet under his arm. “Drill time? Is it 0900 already?”

“Yep,” said Poe. “You should come up. You could probably handle an X-Wing by now.”

“No thanks,” said Finn, grinning into the old argument. “No one wants me up there in a fighter. I make the real pilots cry sad tears at how bad I am.”

“I want you. Up there,” said Poe. Finn noticed him fidgeting, shifting his weight and absently picking at a thumbnail. _What's he so nervous about?_ “You’ve only got blaster training today, right?”

“Yep. At 1100.” Finn got up. He gave the creature’s head a gentle pat. “I make _those_ instructors cry happy tears.”

“I don’t know why _you_ aren’t an instructor,” said Poe. “I’ve seen you shoot. You’re probably the only Stormtrooper who doesn’t miss.” He grinned crookedly. “C’mon, come flying with me. It’s nice to park in orbit and watch the suns go up and down.”

“You’re running _drills_ ,” said Finn. “You haven’t got time to take me on a joyride.”

“ _After_ drills, then.”

“I’ll be at the range until 1500.”

Poe rolled his eyes. “ _Fine_ ,” he said, and Finn was a little surprised by the legitimate hurt he could hear between the lines. “See you at lunch, then?"

"Yeah, of course." Finn was confused. _Why is Poe upset?_ he wondered. _We have this argument all the time. It’s not even an argument._ BB-8 bleeped in query and Poe shushed her. _What's his problem today?_

Poe nodded and turned to go, and in a panic Finn reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "Hey," he said, determined to make the unreadable look on Poe's face go away. "Why don't we go flying tonight instead? Find a spot for some stargazing? Bring some food along, take a breather from, you know, doing our level best not to die heroically several times a day?”

Immediately, Poe lit up like hyperspace. “Yeah!” he said, sounding surprised and pleased. “That sounds great, actually.”

Finn grinned back. “Meet at the hangar at 2100?” _Operation: Cheer up Poe Dameron 34 ABY_ was now in motion.

“I’ll grab us snacks and a blanket.” Poe actually bounced on his toes a little. “Okay, 2100.” He hesitated and made an aborted move toward Finn, then stood back and scratched the back of his head instead with a goofy smile. “See you then.”

Once Poe was gone, Finn turned his attention back to the creature and shouted in surprise at the med-droid that had drifted silently into the room and was now hovering next to the bed. Finn fell out of his chair but jumped right back up. “Sorry,” he said, panting a little. “Didn’t—gah—know you were there.”

“Apologies, Master Finn.” The med-droid went through the vitals procedure.

“Not a problem.” Finn watched for a moment as the droid drew blood. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Everything,” said the droid dully. “I hope you enjoy your intimate excursion with Commander Dameron.”

“Intimate—what?” Finn spluttered. “We’re just going stargazing, that’s all.” Finn swallowed. “Right? It’s not a big deal. A picnic. Under the stars.” He swallowed. _Wait._

The droid beeped incomprehensibly for a moment. “Beings like yourself might identify that as a ‘date’,” they said, sounding snide.

_Oh, shit._

“Do I have a date with Poe Dameron?”

The droid looked as smug as a bucket of bolts could. “Looks to be that way.”

—

“I think I have a date with Poe Dameron.”

Rey did not look up from her cards. “Mm?” she asked, brow furrowed in concentration. Their dinners were long since eaten and there were few people left in the mess hall. Finn had exactly two hours and three minutes before he was supposed to meet Poe in the hangar, and he had _no idea what to do_.

Finn shot her a withering look. “You could be helpful,” he said. “That is a thing you could do for me, right now. If you aren't busy or anything.”

Sighing dramatically, Rey lowered her cards and gave him a look.

“What do you want _me_ to do?” She made a face. “No one _dated_ on Jakku. I’ve never even kissed anyone."

"Do you want to?” asked Finn. He wasn’t being opportunistic. Everyone should have their first kiss be with someone they trust. For him, Finn was glad it was Rose. He was happy to do Rey the same favor. “If you want a volunteer, it wouldn't be awkward and I don't expect anything."

“Thanks, but no.” Rey hooked her foot around his ankle. “You’re very handsome, Finn, but not _my_ sort of handsome.”

“Oh.” Finn thought for a moment. “I bet Jess would volunteer.” He grinned. “Or Chewie.”

Rey flicked her fingers at him and his cards rose out of his hand before falling to the table, scattered and revealed. “Aw, come on!” He scooped them all up. “I had a good hand.”

“No, you didn’t.” She tidied away the cards and leaned forward on her elbows. “Tell me about this _date_.” She paused. “Wait. First, explain what a date _is_.”

Finn explained, at least what _he_ knew—which, admittedly, wasn’t much. “Sometimes,” he said, “they’d show us propaganda holos. They were always about the First Order, you know, brave ‘Troopers, noble officers.”

“Ah,” said Rey, nodding sagely. "Bantha shit."

Finn touched his nose and pointed at her. “Anyway, sometimes there were love stories. Sort of. Usually someone rescuing someone else from the Republic, usually with a lot of murder. There'd be a romantic date—usually a picnic under the stars, with lots of hand holding and gazing in each other's eyes. They'd have one kiss, then they would get married, and their kids would eventually join the Order. Rinse, repeat.”

At Rey’s appalled expression he laughed. “Some of them were actually pretty good," he said "I’m sure nobody _here_ would think so, since most of them are about _destroying the Resistance,_ but we liked them fine because it passed the time and was a good way to relax after training all day. Our books were propaganda, too. Sometimes they had romances that were pretty convoluted and always came back around to loyalty to the First Order.

“So,” said Finn, “my idea of a _date_ is somewhere between ‘picnic under the stars’ and ‘destroying the Resistance’.” He dropped his head and knocked his forehead against the table. _Thunk. Thunk._

Rey stuck her hand between him and the wood and lifted his head up again. “On Jakku if you wanted to court someone, you stole for them. You shared your food and water. You killed whoever they had a grudge against."

“Wow,” said Finn. “I clearly had it better.”

Rey snorted. “At any rate, it sounds like dates are dependent on the participants.” She smiled. “Where are you going?”

“Picnic under the stars,” said Finn, letting his head fall again. _Thunk_. “My idea.”

Rey sputtered. “Did you _realize_ what you were asking him?”

“ _No_ ,” moaned Finn. “I just wanted him to stop looking so sad.”

“Why was he sad?” asked Rey.

Finn shrugged. “He asked me to come flying with him during drills and I said no.” He sighed. “He had a look on his face, I can’t describe it. He was _hurt_. So, I asked him to take us out tonight instead.” He lifted his head. “And now we might have a damn _date_.”

As he spoke, Rey looked more and more gleeful until she was practically vibrating. “Oh, he's definitely going to kiss you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “Not like Rose kissed you, either. Poe looks like he has _skills_.”

Finn snorted. “What do _you_ know about _kissing skills_.”

“I’ve seen things,” she insisted. “I’m observant.”

“No, I think you're just full of shit.” He tilted his head. “What do I do, Rey?”

“I don’t know,” she said, apologetically. “I think you’re just going to have to feel this out as it happens.” She reached over and put her hand over his. “You’ll be fine. It’s Poe. You’re tied up together in knots. I don’t think anything could undo them.”

“I hope you’re right, Jedi.” He smiled at her. “I do have a favor to ask, though.”

Rey smiled. “Name it, Pathfinder.”

—

He didn’t have much time, but Finn wanted to check on the creature one more time before he went out. She was still out, but when Finn peeked under the bacta patch he could see that the wound was much, much better. It wouldn’t be long now that she’d wake up, and then they’d have a whole new problem: where to put her.

They’d jump off that bridge when they came to it. He stroked the fur on her back and tapped her paw the way he always did. She wouldn’t remember once she woke up, but for now Finn found it comforting.

“I should tell him about the Force thing, shouldn’t I?” he asked her, after laying out his dilemma. “I don’t think _he_ thinks it’s a date, but what if he does? What do I do? I don’t—I can’t do that to him, if I hide the Force thing and we—whatever happens, I don't _know_.”

He looked at her little face, relaxed in sleep. “I don’t know how to do this," he whispered. He sat quietly for a moment and wondered if this was the kind of thing he'd have brought to his parents. If his mother would have had advice and his father reassurance, two things he could have really, really used right then.

He felt the sting and fury over his upbringing and everything he should have had acutely.

After allowing himself a moment of self-pity, he sat up straight and cleared his throat. “Ok, I’m going to tell him,” he said decisively. “Just get it over with. Whatever happens after that, happens.” He looked down at her. “Thoughts?”

Silence.

“Yeah, I figured.”

—

Finn tried not to panic as he stood in the hangar, waiting for Poe. He’d changed clothes on Rey’s advice, switching from his normal, drab Resistance gear to something a little more relaxed: his _other_ pair of pants (he really needed to do something about that) and a shirt with an open collar that was just a _little_ revealing. Rey claimed Finn had a nice chest and should show it off, and Finn trusted her with everything so he'd gone along with it and let her arrange the shirt on him until she felt she'd achieved _maximum handsome_.

Eventually she pronounced him 'as good as it's going to get', to which he responded with a swat to the back of her head. He kicked her out before she could start a brawl and headed off to meet Poe.

 _Everything's fine_ , he told himself. _I've got this. It's just a night out. We do it all the time—_

"Finn!"

Finn turned and braced himself against the hull of the ship next to him as Poe jogged up to meet him. Poe had ditched the flight suit for some _extremely_ tight and wildly flattering pants and a loose shirt with the top button undone, revealing _collarbones_. His hair was artfully tousled, he'd tidied his perpetual five o'clock shadow, and even from a foot away Finn could just _tell_ he smelled really, really good.

Finn swallowed hard.

 _It_ is _a date,_ he thought, his stomach doing barrel rolls. _Oh no._

“Hey!” he said out loud, pasting a smile on his face. He nodded at the bag slung over Poe’s shoulder. “Got us supplies?”

“Yup,” said Poe. “Robbed the kitchen for a few things. They won’t miss them.”

Finn thought back to Rey’s description of courting on Jakku. _You’d steal for them._ “No BB-8?”

Poe turned a little red. "She's been a pain in the ass all day, so I banished her to Rey's for the night. Anyway, let's go!" He turned toward the freighter they'd taken to Centa 5 and patted its side. "Let's hope this bucket of bolts gets us somewhere."

Finn gently took him by the shoulders and spun him around. Poe looked at him, bewildered.

“Not that one,” said Finn. He frog-marched Poe around the corner to where the _Falcon_ sat, proud and waiting. “This one.”

Poe’s eyes went wide. “Really?” He looked at Finn, who nodded. “How’d you swing that? Chewie almost never lets anyone fly it, except Rey, unless it’s for missions. And even then he’s weird about it.”

“As it happens,” said Finn. “I have an in with the pilots.” He grinned and steered Poe up the ramp into the ship, hitting the button as he passed to close it. He let Poe deposit himself in the pilot’s seat while he took the snack bag and sat it on the dejarik table. He took several deep breaths— _everything is fine, everything is_ fine—before joining Poe in the cockpit in time for takeoff.

“Hey there, co-pilot.” Poe didn’t look away from flipping switches and priming the engines. “Where do you want to go? We’re not cleared for off-world tonight, but this is a big planet.”

Finn bit his lip in thought for a moment. “Let me think.” He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. He could see the planet, see the geography of it. He thought of what he wanted, somewhere isolated and beautiful, somewhere _magical_ enough to put Poe at ease. Somewhere they'd never forget.

He listened to the hum of the _Falcon_ , the soft huff of Poe breathing, the whisper of the planet as it turned.

 _Aha, there it is_.

Finn opened his eyes and found Poe looking at him curiously.

“Can I…?” Finn gestured to the navigational panel. Poe nodded, and Finn punched in the coordinates he didn’t know he knew. “Let’s go there.”

Poe raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question him. He grinned as he pointed the _Falcon_ in the right direction and took off like a shot, skimming over the tops of the trees. The moons weren’t visible yet, but the stars shed enough light for Finn to be able to see the shadowy forest and shapes moving through the branches. Ajan Kloss teemed with flora and fauna, but nothing they knew of was intelligent.

Poe said nothing for a long moment as he steered them clear of the taller trees and small mountains.

“So,” he said at last. “Where are we going, exactly?”

“Just get us there, flyboy,” said Finn, smirking at him. “You’ll see.”

Poe looked dubious but kept flying, showing off a little and experimenting with the _Falcon's_ speed and maneuverability. He flipped them at one point, making Finn fall out of his seat— _this is why we buckle up_ , said the voice in his head that sounded a little too much like General Organa—but he laughed as he climbed back up and sat back down.

“Sorry!” shouted Poe. He did not sound sorry at all. “This thing handles like a _dream_ , got to enjoy it while I can.”

“Rey’s trying to convince Chewie to let us take it out more often.” Finn leaned back in his seat. “She said he's a little reluctant.”

“That’s not what he _really_ said, though,” said Poe. Finn laughed.

“No, he said ‘I’m not letting those wampafuckers near Han’s ship’.” They cackled together. “I mean, he’s not wrong, we tend to crash things pretty often.”

“How’d Rey convince him this time?”

Finn felt the back of his neck heat up. “Oh. Dunno. She has her ways, I guess.”

(He did know. Rey had gone to Chewie and told him to lend Finn and Poe the _Falcon_ for a _first date_ , and apparently Chewie was such a hopeless romantic that he'd agreed readily.

“Does _everyone_ know?” asked Finn when Rey had returned.

“Finn,” said Rey, placing both hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye. “ _Everyone_ knows.”

“Oh, yay.”)

The _Falcon_ let out a warning beep, but for once it was only to let them know they’d arrived. Through the windshield Finn could see what he’d seen in his head: a round clearing just big enough for the ship to land atop a cliff overlooking a vast valley below. Poe set them down right on target and killed the engines.

“Huh,” he said, hushed and sounding awed as he looked out at the darkened landscape. “Your imaginary place isn’t actually imaginary.”

"Told you."

Outside the ship was warm and just shy of too humid, perfect weather for sitting under the stars. While Poe gave the _Falcon_ a cursory post-flight once-over—she was a good ship, but things fell off a lot—Finn took the bag over to a mossy spot a few meters away from the edge of the cliff. He set up the lanterns and spread the blanket and dug around to see what snacks Poe had brought.

“Did you bring the _entire_ kitchen?” he called out, unloading everything from sandwiches, little bags of various raw vegetables that Poe knew Finn liked to crunch on, berries, crackers, cheese, even a bottle of Alderaanian wine that Poe had to have gotten from General Organa. There were, however, no glasses.

He waved the bottle in Poe’s direction. “Did you forget something?” he shouted. Poe popped out from behind the ship, seemingly satisfied that nothing currently or had the potential to explode. He made his way to Finn, frowning in confusion.

“No? Did I?” He grimaced. “What did I forget.”

“Glasses.” Finn smirked when Poe slapped his own forehead. “Don’t stress about it, we don’t stand on ceremony around here.”

“I hope I at least managed to remember to bring a fucking corkscrew,” said Poe, delving into the bag and pulling one out. Finn passed the bottle and Poe set to work opening it. When he managed to pop the cork, he offered the bottle to Finn.

“Thanks,” said Finn, taking a delicate first sip. A weird cross between bitter and sweet hit his tongue and at first he wasn’t sure he liked it. Another sip—more substantial this time—revealed that yes, actually, he _did_ like it. “Hey, that’s pretty good.”

“General Organa gave it to me after Jakku,” said Poe, stretching out on the blanket, turned on his side and resting on one elbow. “I don’t know if it was a reward or an apology.”

_You share your food and water._

“Probably a little of both,” said Finn. He took one more drink and passed the bottle to Poe before he started digging into the food. There was so much, but between the two of them they were able to put a pretty big dent in it.

As their feast—and the wine—disappeared, they grew more talkative the tipsier they got. Finn sat with his legs drawn up and his elbows resting on his knees as he gnawed on something blue and tasty, from a planet he didn’t know the name of. Poe was stretched out next to him, arms behind his head. They both stared up at the sky, at the thick, sparkling band of the galaxy, so bright it made their little clearing seem otherworldly. Finn glanced at Poe and almost swallowed his tongue at how _fucking gorgeous_ Poe Dameron was in starlight.

 _Fuck_ , he thought. _Fuck all the stars in space and time and galaxies far, far away. This is not_ fair _._

Poe turned his head and gave Finn a sleepy smile. “Y’ok, bud?”

_Fuuuuuck._

“Yeah, just lost in thought.” Finn counted the stars in an unfamiliar constellation. He wasn't drunk, just fuzzy enough to feel brave and stupid. “I’m…really glad I’m here.”

“Here as in this place, or here as in the Resistance?” asked Poe. He sounded more relaxed than he had in months. Finn liked that he could give Poe a break from saving the galaxy. 

Finn shrugged. “Little of both. This is a nice place, and the Resistance are nice people.” He picked at his thumbnail. “You and Rey are my best friends. You were my _first_ non-Order friends.”

Poe nodded. “Did you have friends back then?”

“Yeah, I guess. Slip, he was my friend, sort of.” He swallowed with a click. “We messed around a little, sometimes.”

Finn had never told anyone that. He knew the other Stormtroopers in his dormitory were aware, but they had their own problems and weren’t interested in boring 2187 and the misfit who was going to get himself killed eventually. He wasn't sure why he'd volunteered the information to Poe. Rey didn't even know.

“It was fun," he went on. "He was a good guy. Bad at being a Stormtrooper, though.”

“Not as bad as you,” said Poe. He sounded funny, and when Finn looked at him he found him staring. “You up and left.”

“Yeah.” Finn chuckled. “I win.”

“Were you guys…” Poe seemed to be hunting for the right words. “Was it just for fun, or…?”

“Fun,” said Finn. “Something to do. Maybe we could have—but we couldn't. Then he died.”

Poe whimpered a little. “I’m sorry, bud. I didn’t know you had someone.”

Finn laughed softly. “I didn’t have someone. We were friends who messed around once in a while. It really wasn’t that complicated.”

The look on Poe’s face, however, was very complicated, halfway between curiosity and an odd, strained smile. Finn hated it. He’d put it there by babbling about his First Order fuckbuddy.

 _Rey was right, you_ are _a moron._

After a moment of awkward silence, with Finn studying Poe out of the corner of his eye, Poe seemed to come to some kind of decision. His brow furrowed and his jaw twitched. He cleared his throat. “Listen, Finn—"

“Poe,” said Finn quietly, not wanting to hear what Poe had to say before he said what _he_ had to say. Poe shut right up. “I need to tell you something.”

Poe sat up a little at the seriousness in Finn’s voice. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“No, no.” Finn shook his head urgently. “Nothing _bad_." _I hope_.

There was another long silence—anticipatory this time—as Finn weighed his options. _It’s now or never,_ he thought. _He deserves to know._

Wordlessly, Finn extended his hand at one of the apples they hadn’t managed to eat. Finn relaxed, let all the tension bleed from his body. It felt like he’d gone _inside_ the apple, like he _was_ the apple and everything surrounding it. He could taste the sweetness on his tongue.

“Holy _shit._ ”

The apple hovered about a foot off the blanket, just far enough that it could rotate in a sleepy planetary spin. Finn waved his hand slightly and the apple flew toward Poe. He caught it awkwardly and stared at it for a moment, then at Finn.

“You—”

Finn nodded. “I never really told you about what happened on Jakku,” he said. “It wasn’t just that I had a change of heart. I felt something deeper, something really solid and warm, right in my chest. Then I started feeling _everything_ , all the time. It’s gotten better now that I’m used to it, but it scared me at first.

"Anyway, I felt the creature’s pain the other day, when it got shot. And then, uh.” He gestured at the apple. “Found out I could do that yesterday.”

Poe was silent for a long time, long enough that Finn’s anxiety had crept back into his chest. He wrapped his arms around his legs, chin on his knees. He took a deep breath and let it out again.

“Say something, please,” he said.

He wasn’t prepared to be tackled. Poe had launched himself at Finn, arms around his neck, toppling them over to the ground. Poe clung to him tightly, burying his nose against Finn’s shoulder. Finn had always liked Poe’s hugs, but this was a Poe-hug dialed up to eleven. He scrabbled at Poe’s arms, gripping his biceps and trying to extract himself. Poe made a little noise of protest, but slowly relinquished his grip and pulled back. He kept his hands on Finn’s shoulder, and the look in his eye was intense. It was the same look Poe got right before battle. Finn gulped. "Poe?"

“I cannot _believe_ was lucky enough to be on that ship with you,” said Poe. He sat back on his haunches, allowing Finn to sit up again. “Of all the Order ships I could have been sent to, I’m on the one with the Stormtrooper with a heart and _the Force_.”

Finn shrugged, but he was pleased at Poe’s reaction. “You okay, then?”

Poe gave him a funny look, then his face changed with understanding. “Listen,” he said, leaning close. “I will never, ever be afraid of you.” He still had one hand on Finn’s shoulder. “You don’t have an evil cell in your body—that’s why you’re _here_. You threw off, what, _twenty years_ of programming so easily it’s like it never even took in the first place.”

“It’s really confusing,” said Finn. They were sitting _so_ close together. _Kissing distance._ “When I left the ship for Jakku, I was excited. I thought we were just protection detail for Ren, but when everyone started shooting, I realized, _oh fuck, this is real_ , and real people started dying, and it was just too much. It wasn’t like the sims. I smelled the burning bodies and heard all the screams.

“It was like something had flipped the switch on my loyalty and I realized, _this is_ wrong.”

“The Force?” asked Poe.

“Maybe,” said Finn. “Maybe the Force, and maybe my own conscience kicked in.”

“Let's say it was about thirty-seventy.” Poe grinned, a little maniacally. “What else can you do?”

They spent the rest of the night finding out the different things Finn could do. It was mostly making things float, attempting bigger and bigger things (more apples, the wine bottle, Poe himself), until they started yawning uncontrollably. It was time to clean up and go back to base.

“Thank you for telling me,” said Poe when they were back on the _Falcon_. “You didn’t have to be nervous, but thank you for the consideration.”

Finn smiled at him, a little tiredly—he’d never used the Force that much before and he had no idea how exhausting it would be. “Gotta look out for you,” he said. “You’re a delicate flower.”

“Hey!” Poe feigned outrage. “I’m a Very Brave and Dangerous Soldier,” he said. He grasped Finn's arm and feigned gnawing on his bicep. "Grr."

Finn snorted and pulled away, skin tingling. “You used a lobergia flower face mask the other night.”

“I have very sensitive skin!”

They laughed their way to the cockpit, and Finn couldn’t decide if he was relieved that it was not in fact a date after all, or disappointed.

—

The next morning, Finn went straight to medbay again before breakfast. “She’s doing very well,” said Major Kalonia. “I’ve stopped the sedation, so she should wake up on her own soon.”

“That’s great news,” said Finn from his usual seat by the bed. “I’m glad we saved her. She saved me. It’s only right.”

Kalonia put a hand on his shoulder from behind and gave him a few pats. “You should start researching places for her to go. She’ll need a home.”

There was a funny lilt to Kalonia’s tone that Finn could translate easily. “I can’t keep her as a pet,” he said warily. “She’s not a _thing_.”

“Then you should find somewhere else for her that's safe.” She gave him one last squeeze. “Don’t stay in here all morning, heard it’s breadroot patties today.”

Finn’s stomach betrayed him with a growl, making them both laugh. “Copy that,” he said, with a little salute. She smiled and went, and Finn turned his attention back to the creature.

“I told Poe about the Force last night,” he said to her, finger in its usual place, on top of her tiny paw. “He took it a lot better than I thought. But nothing else happened. I think—he's friendly with everyone, you know? So it's hard to gauge."

He smelled the food before it entered the room. Rey came in, balancing two plates in her hands. Two pouches of juice floated around her head. Finn laughed and leapt up to pluck the juices out of the air.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said, pulling one of the wheeled bedside tables over. Rey put the plates down and fetched the other chair in the room.

“Of course I didn’t,” she said, sitting down and picking up her fork. “But the patties were going fast and I know you like them, and I knew you'd be here, so here I am.”

Finn smiled at her gratefully. They ate while the creature slept on, and Finn told Rey all about the non-date.

“Sounds like it began rather romantically, though.” Rey’s mouth twisted with uncertainty. “Perhaps?”

“It was _really nice_ ,” he said, scooping some wobbly egg with a piece of breadroot. “I thought something might happen, but.” He swallowed. “I couldn’t let anything happen without telling him about the Force, first. Which I did.”

Rey coughed and spluttered through a mouthful of juice. She scowled at him as he laughed, and she wiped her face on her sleeve. “Wow,” said Finn, bemused. “Were you raised by kath hounds?”

She sniffed. “Fuck you,” she said primly, stuffing more breadroot in her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully. “So, what did he say?” she asked.

He smiled a little. “He made me levitate shit all night, including _him_.” Rey laughed with him. “He was really fine with it. Told me he’d never be afraid of me.”

“Because he shouldn’t be,” said Rey. “The Force is not inherently _bad_. The Force can be manipulated, and by the wrong person it can be as catastrophic as it can be magnificent. Master Leia taught me that.” She leaned in a little. “No kissing, then?” she whispered. “Nothing at all?”

“Nope.” Finn studied his plate without really seeing it. “He was going to say something but I cut him off, and now I'm afraid of whatever he wanted to say."

"Why?"

"Don't know, still figuring out that part." Finn twirled his fork and tapped the prongs against the table. "Maybe it could be something good, but it also could _not_ be good. I'm not so great with disappointment, it really gets to me. And I'm guessing I'd be even less great at navigating a relationship when the only thing I've ever done is awkward and dead silent handjobs with the guy in the bunk below."

Rey raised an eyebrow but nodded. They ate in silence for a moment, Rey making happy little noises as she demolished her breakfast. Finn wordlessly put his last piece of breadroot on her plate. She looked up and grinned in the way that always made him weak in the knees.

“This is why people will never be afraid of you,” she said. “You’re kind.”

“So are you,” said Finn. “And everyone here is still terrified of you.”

Rey looked pleased at that. “You're not, though.”

"I'm absolutely terrified of you, girl, you bite." Rey grinned and gnashed her teeth. Finn scowled. “Maybe I _want_ people to be afraid of _me_ ,” he said, a little petulant. “At least the bad guys.”

“We’ll work on that, then. I can teach you how to bite people.” Rey finished off the last bit of food on her plate. “Did you talk to Master Leia?”

“Not yet,” he said. “I will, though." He jerked his thumb toward the creature. "Once we know she's fine and I figure out what to do with her.”

“You could bring me home,” said a soft, high voice in the room. “That would be nice.”

Finn and Rey both jumped. The creature lay on her side, staring at them with large, flight suit-orange eyes.

“Hello,” she said.

“Ok, so you can talk,” Finn said lamely. “I have to admit that never crossed my mind.”

“It’s alright,” said the creature. She sat up very slowly and Finn jumped up to help her. “Thank you,” she said. She looked up at him. “And thank you for saving my life.”

“You saved mine.” Finn smiled. “I had no idea you were intelligent,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

The creature laughed, a melodic little trill that reminded Finn of BB-8 when she was being cute on purpose to sweet-talk Poe into mischief around the base (it always worked). “It’s fine.” She put her tiny paw on his hand. “Are you Finn-friend?” she asked.

He blinked. “Yes?”

“Ah!” She smiled. “I recognized your voice! I heard your healer talking to you, and about you with your contraption.” She pointed at the medical droid hovering next to the bed, checking her vitals. Her huge eyes flicked to Rey. “Who are you?”

“Rey,” she said, smiling. "What's your name?"

“I am Anno,” said the creature. She added a word in a tongue Finn couldn't even begin to repeat, let alone spell. "I am a Regoan."

"Is that your species?" asked Finn. Anno shook her head.

"It is the name of our tribe. The planet you likely know by another name is called Rego. Many explorers have taken it upon themselves to assume our planet hasn't a name already. A bit annoying."

Finn squirmed. “We call it Centa 5,” he said sheepishly. “But I've never heard of Rego. Sorry!” he added quickly. "They didn't teach us much about the planets we didn't already occupy until we were preparing to occupy them. Your planet was taken after I escaped."

“I don't blame you, Finn-friend.” Anno patted Finn’s finger, the way he’d always done to her paw. It was soft and warm, and her claws poked at his skin. “You aren’t supposed to have heard of us. We keep to ourselves. The beings like you on Rego, the colonizers, they hunt us for food and it seems sometimes just for fun. It is safer for us to keep to the caves and the trees.”

Anno’s long tail emerged from under the blanket and wrapped around his wrist. Her fur was _so_ soft. “Thank you for looking after me,” she said. “I’m glad to talk to you at last.”

Finn smiled, but then a thought struck him. “You really could hear me? The whole time?”

“Yes,” said Anno. “I liked your stories, about Rey-friend and Poe-friend. I feel like I know you all.”

“Rey-friend,” said Rey. “I like that. It’s the reverse of what BB-8 calls me.” She grinned at Finn. “I like her!”

“Thank you!” said Anno brightly. 

“So, if you keep to yourself,” asked Finn, “how do you know our language?”

Anno's mouth bent in the approximation of a smile, as much as her muzzle allowed. “Sometimes, we take in travelers. The wounded or abandoned. They teach us their languages, and we teach them to survive in the forest. We believe in community, which doesn’t begin and end with only Regoa. That is why I chose to assist you, Finn-friend.”

Finn smiled. "So how do you make sure the people you help don't tell others where you are?"

Anno chortled. "There is a fruit we cultivate that makes you forget. If we administer the proper dose, we let them keep their new knowledge but they won't know how they obtained it."

Rey whistled. “You sound like someone the Resistance would love to have," she said. "I'm sure Master Leia would be alright with a new recruit."

"I know I sure want you to stick around," said Finn emphatically.

"That is good," said Anno. She smiled a little. “I understand that I cannot return home." Her tail drooped. Finn felt a lump in his throat and a fresh wave of guilt crested over him.“I likely would not live very long.”

"I'm so sorry," said Finn in a whisper.

"Don't be, Finn-friend. I regret nothing." She looked at Finn. “I would like to learn more of the Resistance. If it produces beings like you, it seems like a good place to be.”

Poe careened into the room. “Kalonia commed me—the Thingy’s awake?” He peered around Finn and Rey. “Hey, she's cute!"

Anno preened. “Thank you,” she said.

“ _Hoshit_.” Poe scampered behind Finn, making Rey snort into her hand. “Thingy _talks_?!”

“ _She’s not a thingy_ ,” said Rey and Finn together.

“Her name is Anno,” said Finn. “That planet we were on is actually called Rego.”

Anno regarded Poe curiously. “Who is this being?” she asked.

Finn stepped aside. Poe gave her a feeble little wave. “Hi. I'm Poe. Uh, sorry, should have led with that.”

Anno sat up all the way, her tail sliding away from Finn and flicking excitedly around her head. “Poe-friend!” She clapped her paws. “Finn-friend told so many stories of you! He spoke of you every day.”

Finn felt his face heat up like blaster fire. “I mean,” he said, tripping over his words. “I just, y’know.” He cleared his throat. “I talked about Rey, too!”

“Not nearly as much,” said Anno. “Poe-friend is the beautiful being who flies.”

The room was silent. Finn wished very hard for an air raid, or another Death Star.

“I think I need to do a thing!” said Rey, a beat too late and her voice too high and too loud for the room. “Somewhere else!” She nodded at Anno. “ _Itwasnicetomeetyougoodbye_.” Rey slid out of the room, and a moment later they heard her snorting laughter from the hallway.

Finn sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Poe—”

“I’ve said something wrong,” said Anno. Her ears lay flat against her head, and her tail curled around herself. “Finn-friend, have I said something wrong?”

“No,” he said quickly. It’s not _her_ fault he’s a big-mouthed disaster. “Not at all, Anno, it’s fine.” He smiled at her weakly. “I just—I need to go. Follow Rey. She needs me for that thing she’s doing.”

Finn could feel Poe's gaze on him. He resolutely did not look back.

Anno looked distraught. “Please, Finn-friend,” she said. “You seem upset and I am afraid I made you so.”

“You’re fine,” he said, trying hard for reassuring and failing. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Alright." Anno sniffed. “If you’re sure?"

Finn nodded and patted her foot. “Everything’s ok, I promise.”

Poe’s ongoing silence was deafening. Finn made the fatal mistake of glancing at him and nearly stopped breathing at the intense look on his face.

Finn quickly looked away. “Uh, see you later, ok?” he said to Anno. "I'll bring you dinner."

He nodded at Poe.

"Uh. Bye."

He fled.

—

Poe, of course, found him eventually.

Finn had climbed to the roof of the main hangar. He’d discovered the way up while on patrol one night, and even though the lights of the base drowned out most of the stars it was still nice to sit up there and listen to the bugs and birds, to breathe in all the green. It had just rained, giving the air the rich tang of wet dirt and bark.

“How did you know?” asked Finn, hearing Poe come up behind him. The truth was he’d sensed Poe before he’d even crested the top of the roof—apprehension, a little fear, something like determination. “I’ve never brought you up here.”

“You think you’re the only one who knows about it?” Poe sat down next to him. “What the hell was that back there?”

Finn groaned and dropped his face in his hands. “Let’s not.”

“Oh no, _let’s_ ,” said Poe. There was urgency to his voice. “You know what the thi— _Anno_ told me after you lit out like your ass was on fire?”

“Oh, fuck.” Finn braced himself.

Poe leaned closer. “It _was_ supposed to be a date,” he said into Finn's ear, all hot breath and the scent of ozone and sweet spice. “You _idiot_.”

Finn jerked his head up and almost knocked into Poe’s. “You could have said something,” he said. “I didn’t know one way or the other because, hi.” He waved at Poe with wide eyes. “I don't know if you remember, but I grew up with fascists? I mean, I know how to flirt—”

Poe coughed.

Finn talked over him. “—and I know what sex is, I’ve had it, it’s neat. But here's a secret: there are very few opportunities—and by few, I mean none—for a ‘Trooper and a ‘Trooper who love each other very much to go on a fucking _date_.” Finn poked him in the chest. “So, a heads-up would have been pretty good.”

Poe hung his head for a moment before looking up with small smile Finn thought might even be _hopeful_. “Well, I would have said something, but you shot me down, and then immediately asked me for something _more_ romantic. I thought, ‘this is it, this is happening’ and then you dropped a Force bomb on me, and I thought, ‘okay, this isn’t happening after all, but he’s got the Force, so who the fuck cares’.”

Finn shook his head, trying not to laugh and failing. “Yes, but once again, _ex-Stormtrooper._ ” He looked at Poe. “There’s no manual for integrating into a society that is the complete polar opposite of your whole life.”

“Ok, ok.” Poe did laugh. Finn joined in.

“So, _beautiful,_ huh?” Poe said after a moment.

“I will throw you off this roof.”

Poe giggled. “Nope, sorry. It's out now, you think I'm _beautiful_.”

“You look like a wampa's balls, to be honest." Finn shoved him. "Was trying to protect your fragile ego.”

Poe scooted closer and curled an arm around Finn, hand resting on Finn’s hip. He leaned his head against Finn’s shoulder. They kicked their legs over the edge of the roof. “Love you, buddy.”

“That’s what I get?” Finn laughed. “ _Love you, buddy?_ ”

“That’s what you get,” said Poe. “You’re my buddy, and I love you.”

Finn looked off in the direction of a night-bird's call from deep in the jungle. “It was a long time before I understood what love was," he said. "Figured it out when I was about—I actually don’t know how old I was, probably a teenager. I saw this holo. It was smuggled in by one of the outside recruits, and it was about a Stormtrooper and a Resistance fighter and how they had to try and be together while fighting on opposite sides of the same war.”

“Huh,” said Poe.

“Yeah. Anyway, they fought each other, and then they fought together. Then one of them died so the other one took on a suicide mission because they couldn’t handle life without their partner.” He twisted in Poe’s grip and tapped their foreheads together, closing his eyes. “It stayed with me. I couldn’t imagine feeling so much for another being that I’d be willing to fight with them, die beside them." He opened his eyes and locked them with Poe’s. “Until now. Maybe that's what love is, and I don't know how to do this, but I'm hoping I'll pick it up quickly.”

Poe didn’t look away. A slow, bright smile broke over his face like a binary sunrise. “You will, babe. You got me.”

“Babe?”

“Babe,” said Poe, leaning in and pressing their lips together. It felt wildly different from Rose's kiss. Finn opened his mouth to Poe's and worked his hands into Poe’s hair, which got a delightful, involuntary little shiver that Finn found _very_ interesting. Poe’s tongue slid against his and his hand found Finn’s cheek.

Finn gave Poe’s hair another little tug, and there was that tremble again, accompanied by a happy little noise.

“Ooh,” said Finn, pulling away enough to grin. “That’s fun.”

Poe groaned. “If you tell _anyone_ about that—”

“You won’t do a damn thing,” said Finn, kissing his temple, his cheekbone, his chin, his nose. A quick exchange of breath between their lips. “You love me.”

“Yeah, sure.” Poe slumped against him. “Let’s go in. If you’re cool with coming back to the room and doing me until our dicks fall off?”

Finn burst out laughing. “Wow,” he said. "Yes. Okay. I could do that." He yanked gently on Poe’s hair again and Poe twitched.

“I am _serious_ , Finn.” He sounded strangled. Finn kissed his forehead.

“I'm pretty sure I love you,” he murmured against Poe's brow. “My beautiful being who flies.”

Poe beamed up at him, and Finn made a promise to himself that he would do his fucking _best_ to put that smile on Poe’s face as often as possible. He kissed it. Poe kissed back.

The smile was still there when they parted.

—

A few nights after they'd sorted things out and after several more excursions into the jungle on quasi-dates that were mainly an excuse to hide out in the woods and make love in the moss and leaves without interruption, Rey came to their room to watch holos and teach Poe how to swindle people at Sabacc. Poe was tired of being the worst Sabaac player of the three of them, and the other pilots had noticed and stopped betting on Poe. Finn knew it was humiliating when Poe grudgingly requested pointers. Rey, to her credit, obliged with the grace of a Jedi and only giggled about it with Finn long after Poe had left on a recon trip.

That night, halfway through the first game, Poe fell asleep slumped against Finn, drooling a little on his sleeve. Finn managed to get him mostly undressed and tucked into their bed, then turned out most of the lights and asked BB-8 to be a nightlight for a while. She was happy to be useful and displayed a star map on the ceiling, soft and blue and enough to light their sabaac match. Finn and Rey proceeded to gorge themselves on snacks and gossip about everyone on base.

When Rey demanded to know what sex was really like, Finn told her happily, with extremely graphic hand gestures. She looked thoughtful.

"That sounds messy," she said. "I don’t think that’s my path.” She sounded a little conflicted. “Jedi are meant to be rather solitary, and to be honest, there's other things I'd rather be doing.”

“You’re the _last_ Jedi,” said Finn. “You can make your own damn rules. You want to kiss someone? Kiss ‘em. Do other stuff with them? Go for it. Or don't. It's up to _you_ , now.” He smiled and booped her nose. She snorted and shoved his hand away. “You don’t have to be alone anymore, Rey.”

“I know, I know,” she said. “And I know I'm not alone anymore. But you have to remember, I _know_ you know this, but this is a very new thing to me. I’ve got to get used to it.” She fidgeted. “No one’s ever really _cared_ about me before, and now I have you, and Leia and Chewie, and BB-8 and Poe.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s a little frightening, to be cared for. More than caring for someone else. You've got people looking out for you and... I don't know. It’s wonderful, but it’s just so…big. A lot to process.”

“Yeah,” said Finn. He thought about how Rey loved him like the burning Jakku sun. He thought about how Poe loved him like barrel rolls through a comet's tail. He thought about all that love, directed at him and churning through his blood like a choppy sea. He heard Rey sigh and he reached for her hand. The Force unfurled between them and filled the room with a warm, bathwater feeling. It was the most calm Finn had ever felt. Rey looked at him and smiled; Finn smiled back.

With his other hand he reached out and touched Poe's forehead, and the perpetual line between Poe's brows evened out. His breathing deepened, and Finn hoped he was having wonderful dreams. Poe wrinkled his nose and scooted toward Finn's leg with a little snort, nosing at his thigh. Rey laughed and Finn smiled, happy to have the people he loved together and safe under the same roof.

Yeah, he knew exactly what Rey meant.

—

Anno joined the Resistance, signing on with Finn's ground force team as a scout. Despite her injury she was still agile enough that she could flit through the trees overhead and drop down to bite and claw the shit out of anyone below. They even outfitted her with a tiny blaster-proof vest, and Rey fashioned a little helmet out of an old bomb casing. Finn gave her a short vibroblade.

“It is good to feel useful,” said Anno, a few weeks after she'd woken up. It was a rainy afternoon and she sat on Finn’s shoulder as he passed her little bits of the fruit he was eating, which she took and nibbled on politely. “It is enjoyable work,” she said. “Important work.”

“You haven’t seen battle, yet,” said Jess, sitting on the flight case opposite them. "But you're not wrong." She was sucking on a juice pouch and trying to read her data pad at the same time. Snap was crouched next to an ancient R2 unit, trying to get it back online. He didn’t look like he was having much luck.

“Did you have family?” Finn asked Anno. "On Rego?"

“I had a clan, yes. My mother and father, one brother, many other relatives.” She looked away, a little distant. “I do miss them, but I do not want to be a burden to them. Perhaps when this war is finished, I can go back to see them.”

“Anytime you want,” said Finn. “I'll take you personally. I want to meet them and tell them how you saved my life." He smiled and held up his fruit. "Want the rest?”

Anno nodded and Finn passed the remainder to her. She took it in both paws and scrambled to another flight case to perch on as she finished it off messily. Finn appreciated being spared the stickiness and laughed when she got a seed stuck to her nose.

He heard his name and looked up. Poe ambled up to them, looking smug and freshly showered. When Finn had left him that morning, he’d been out cold and sprawled naked over most of the bed with exactly fourteen hickeys on his neck and back. Finn had counted.

“Hey guys,” said Poe, running a hand through damp hair. “Mornin’.”

“Are you _just_ getting up?” asked Snap incredulously, pretending to look at the watch he didn't wear. “Seriously, man.”

“I was _tired_ ,” said Poe pointedly, looking at Finn. Snap made a choking noise. “Shut up, Wexley.”

"Not my fault," said Finn, holding up both hands. He gave Poe a cocky grin. "Someone couldn't sleep."

"Shut up shut up shut up," said Jess. "We get it, you're banging. Hooray for you."

Poe turned to her and Snap. “We got some intel, recon mission to Fiora Rex. Who’s up for it? You're the only two on base right now. You in?"

"Isn't that a planet that's mostly tropical islands?" Jess raised her juice pouch in lieu of a hand. “I’m in.”

"Same," said Snap, saluting with a wrench.

“Okay," said Poe. "It’ll be us three, about two standard days, three tops. I need you in the hangar in an hour.” Finn winced. “Babe, relax. It's just another milk run.”

“Yeah, you said that last time,” Finn said dryly. Anno cleared her throat. “And last time was great! We had fun. Made friends!”

She flicked the back of his head with her tail. “Relax, Finn-friend,” she said. “Ideally, it would not have happened. It did. And there were losses, but also gains.” Her big eyes flicked to Poe and back to Finn. "You will not complain! All is well."

"Listen to her, Finn, she's smarter than all of us." Poe sidled up to him and pecked the top of his head, looping an arm around his shoulders. Finn leaned against him and listened to the sounds of the base humming around him and the steady beat of Poe's big, dumb heart. They watched Snap curse at the droid while Anno handed him tools with her tail.

“Hey," said Poe quietly. "You know, I can do a lot in an hour.”

Finn looked up. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Wanna find out what?”

“I think I can carve out some time for you.”

“Pencil me in?”

“I'll add it to my calen—"

“ _For the love of little baby Ewoks_ ,” shouted Snap. “ _Get a fucking room.”_

_-fin-_

**Author's Note:**

> FYI: Anno resembles a bushbaby, only bigger. [Read about them here!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galago)
> 
> Find me on Tumblr as dosmit-raeh, and on Twitter as tungolcraeft! I'm boring, but nice!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Kudos is awesome, comments are my lifeblood. Appreciate recs!


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